I finished Virtue's Last Reward, and what a Cliffhanger!!!!!!!! You're seriously telling me to play the next game to continue the story?! Really?!!!!
...I wonder what will happen to Sigma and Phi in the next game: Zero Time Dilemma. I already confirmed they are characters in that game. #gaming #onmymind #mydiary
What is the most interesting thing you managed to do/create with AI? I'm hearing that people are using it for coding games and apps but it sucked every time I tried to use it for coding
There is a skill required to getting these things to work as one wants. To start, there is a difference between models, with some excelling in areas where others lack. Secondly, prompting is an art, to get the model to operate properly.
True, you mentioned the two main factors that influence the results we get from AI tools.
The model and the prompt.
I took some months to study prompting, although I'm not a master yet, but I can currently engineer it to produce almost human quality responses which requires minimal human editing to be perfect
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc. and a Trump crypto advisor, has raised $300 million to launch a publicly traded bitcoin investment company.
David Bailey, CEO of media group BTC Inc., and a key crypto advisor to President Donald Trump, has raised $300 million to launch a publicly traded bitcoin investment company, CNBC has confirmed.
The deal, which has been in the works since January, consists of $200 million in equity funding and $100 million in convertible debt, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the fundraise hasn't been announced. The Information was first to cover the story.
Bailey's company is named Nakamoto, a tribute to the pseudonymous bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. It will focus on acquiring and holding bitcoin and is set to merge with an existing Nasdaq-listed company in a transaction that's expected to be announced early next week, the person said. The company's public listing is expected this summer.
Nakamoto plans to buy companies around the world, including in Brazil, Thailand and South Africa, and invest its bitcoin into them, the source said. The venture is backed by a roster of well-known investors, with an advisory board that includes prominent figures, the person said.
The judge dismissed nearly all of the claims against the "Celebrity Defendants," which include sports stars and others. The court also cleared the "YouTuber Defendants," including influencers who allegedly marketed FTX through social media, of most claims.
The ruling comes after a protracted legal battle in which plaintiffs alleged that the celebrities and influencers were liable for promoting unregistered securities and engaging in deceptive practices.
Earlier this year Nintendo slashed its forecast for sales of the Switch to 11 million units for the year ended Mar. 31. Nintendo on Thursday said it sold 10.8 million units of the Switch in the year, just shy of its own forecast and down 31% year-on-year.
Market research firm Omdia expects Nintendo to sell 14.7 million Switch 2 units in 2025 alone, which would be about 10% ahead of the original Switch's debut year.
"Switch 2 will launch into a stronger position than its predecessor, with over 100 million active Switch users providing a strong foundation for adoption," George Jijiashvili, Omdia's senior principal analyst, told CNBC by email.
Investors are now focused on how the successor to the console, the Switch 2, will perform following its launch. The Switch 2 will start at $449.99 in the U.S. and has improved features compared with its predecessor.
As well as the 15 million unit sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2026, Nintendo said it expects to sell 45 million units of software during the same period.
Games are important for the success of any console and Nintendo said the Switch 2 will launch with two titles — "Mario Kart World" and "Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour." There will also be Switch 2 versions of existing games such as "Zelda: Breath of the Wild." Nintendo is leaning on its popular characters such as Mario and Zelda to boost the appeal of the Switch 2.
"This forces Apple to compete," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said shortly after last month's decision. "This is what we wanted all along."
Apple said in the filing that "non-party developers are already seizing upon the Order to reduce consumer choice (and damage Apple's business) by, among other things, impeding the use of" in-app purchases.
Rogers made a criminal referral in the case, saying that Apple misled the court and that a company vice president "outright lied" about when and why Apple decided to charge 27% for external payments. The real decision, the judge said, took place in meetings involving Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Jack Mallers, who rose to fame by launching the Strike payments app, has secured billions of dollars for his bitcoin-holding venture Twenty One, which is backed by SoftBank and Tether.
"What we really pride ourselves on is being blue-chip credibility with startup upside," Mallers told CNBC's Crypto World this week. "We feel like we're big enough to win entering the market with billions of dollars of capital upon launch, but we're small enough to grow and we're small enough to post bitcoin-denominated returns in what's becoming a really competitive capital markets appetite for bitcoin exposure."
The advertising tech company will also obtain a roughly 20% ownership stake in Tripledot Studios, which makes mobile games like Sudoko Friends, Puzzletime and Solitaire Classic. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025.
AppLovin said it expects second-quarter sales in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.22 billion, trailing analyst expectations of $1.38 billion.
The company reported first-quarter net income of $576 million, or $1.67 per share, up from $234 million, or 67 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2024.
AppLovin's total costs and expenses for the first quarter came in at $820.55 million, representing a 14% increase from the previous year during the same quarter.
But the lawsuit also threatens to ensnare Apple. Google pays the iPhone maker billions of dollars per year — as much as $20 billion per year back in 2022, according to testimony in the trial — to be the default search engine on iPhones. It's lucrative for Apple and a valuable way for Google to get more search volume and users. Apple shares fell 2% during trading Wednesday.
Cue's comments cast doubt on the long-term stability of the relationship. Cue said he believes Google should remain the default search option on Safari, saying he has lost sleep over the possibility of losing the revenue share from the two companies' agreement, according to the report.
The Apple executive said searches on Safari declined for the first time in April, which Cue attributed to the rise in people using AI, according to the report.
A solar-driven water cycle
In a bid to address the global challenge of access to safe drinking water, the team, including scientists from five Chinese research institutions, drew inspiration from the natural porosity of wood, enhancing it with smart materials to engineer a device that captures water more efficiently than most existing technologies, all powered solely by sunlight.
“Our team has invented a device comprising wood’s spongy scaffolding, lithium chloride, iron oxide nanoparticles, a carbon nanotube layer and other specialised features,” Hao emphasized, adding that they also used AI to optimize the material’s performance under varying environmental conditions.
Affordable, biodegradable, and scalable
Hao stressed that the device, despite being small, could be ideal for emergency situations, such as natural disasters that disrupt water supplies, provided the team can scale up and optimize the modular design.
“The current demonstration unit size is 15 cubic millimeters,” Hao said. “It would be very easy to prepare a larger unit, or we can use the units to form an array.”
According to Hou, the device continued to function after being stored at – 4 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 days, demonstrating freeze resistance, and maintained stable performance over repeated use with minimal efficiency loss.
The acquisition positions Coinbase as an international leader in crypto derivatives by open interest and options volume, Greg Tusar, vice president of institutional product, said in a blog post – which could allow it take on big players like Binance. Coinbase operates the largest marketplace for buying and selling cryptocurrencies within the U.S., but has a smaller share of the global crypto market, where activity largely takes place on Binance.
Deribit facilitated more than $1 trillion in trading volume last year and has about $30 billion of current open interest on the platform.
A Florida judge ruled that the investors failed to prove the celebrities knew about FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s misconduct when endorsing the platform.
A Florida federal judge has dismissed most of the claims against high-profile celebrities and YouTubers who promoted the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, including stars like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O'Leary, and Stephen Curry.
The ruling narrows the scope of a sprawling multidistrict litigation accusing them of using their fame to market a fraudulent platform.
The lawsuit stemmed from FTX's catastrophic collapse in November 2022, which wiped out billions of dollars in customer funds and triggered investigations worldwide. The plaintiffs accused the stars of being paid millions of dollars to endorse FTX without disclosing their financial incentives, a violation of federal and state advertising laws.
In an order filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that the plaintiffs, a group of FTX investors, failed to demonstrate that the celebrities had sufficient knowledge of FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's misconduct to be held liable for promoting the exchange.
Nintendo said it expects to sell 15 million units of its new Switch 2 console in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
Nintendo said Thursday that it expects to sell 15 million units of its new Switch 2 console in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
It is the first forecast for sales from the Japanese gaming giant since it announced the successor to its successful Switch device, which is due to go on sale in June.
Nintendo also reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Here's how Nintendo did in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Mar. 31 versus LSEG estimates:
Revenue: 208.7 billion Japanese yen ($1.45 billion), compared with 216.16 billion yen expected.
Net profit: 41.6 billion yen, versus 33.91 billion yen expected.
Revenue fell 24.7% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, while profit plunged nearly 50%. This was largely expected as Nintendo fans await the Switch 2 and hold off on buying the current console.
Apple wants a court to pause a decision in its case against Epic Games, and allow it to charge commission on in-app transactions that link out for payment.
Apple is asking a court to pause a recent decision in its case against Epic Games and allow the iPhone maker to once again charge a commission on in-app transactions that link out for payment.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland found that Apple had violated her original court order from the Epic trial, originally decided in 2021, that forced Apple to make limited changes to its linking out policy under California law.
Judge Rogers' new ruling is more expansive, ordering Apple to immediately stop imposing its commissions on purchases made for iPhone apps through web links inside its apps, among other changes.
Apple is now looking to get a stay on that order, as well as another one from the case that prevents it from restricting app developers from choosing the language or placement of those links, until the entire decision can be appealed. Apple says that required changes in their current form will cost the company "substantial sums."
"This is the latest chapter in Epic's largely unsuccessful effort to use competition law to change how Apple runs the App Store," Apple said in the emergency motion for a stay. The motion cites a previous order in the case that found that new linking policies would cost Apple "hundreds of millions to billions" of dollars annually.
Arm beat on earnings and revenue but issued a disappointing forecast in its quarterly report on Wednesday.
Arm shares dropped more than 8% in extended trading on Wednesday after the chip-design company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
Here's how the company did in the fiscal fourth quarter compared with LSEG consensus:
Earnings per share: 55 cents, adjusted vs. 52 cents expected
Revenue: $1.24 billion vs. $1.23 billion
While Arm topped estimates for the quarter ended March 31, Wall Street is looking ahead to the company's forecast for the first quarter.
Arm said revenue will be between $1 billion and $1.1 billion. The middle of the range is below the $1.1 billion average analysts estimated, according to LSEG. Earnings per share will be between 30 cents and 38 cents, while analysts were expecting 42 cents.
SoftBank controls about 90% of Arm, and took the company public in 2023. It now has a market cap of over $130 billion as of Wednesday's close.
Arm designs the fundamental architecture upon which many chips are built, and sells licenses for its designs to companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia, charging royalty fees on each sale they make. The company claims 99% of premium smartphones are powered by Arm technology.
The device functioned reliably across humidity levels of 30 to 90 percent and temperatures between 41 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
Researchers from Australia and China have designed a smart spongy device capable of capturing water from thin air and releasing it in a cup using the sun’s energy, with impressive performance even in dry climates where most other systems fail.
The innovative water-from-air device uses a sponge-like material made from modified balsa wood – the lightest and softest commercial hardwood timber – enhanced with salts, nanoparticles, and a carbon nanotube layer.
Derek Hao, PhD, a materials scientists and environmental engineer at Australia’s RMIT University, and one of the study’s co-authors, revealed that the material absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, and using solar energy, releases the collected water directly into a cup.
The device achieved an impressive water collection efficiency of up to 94 percent in outdoor testing. It additionally remained effective across a broad range of environmental conditions, including humidity levels ranging from 30 to 90 percent, and temperatures between 41 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
This, according to the senior researcher, further highlights its potential for use in off-grid and disaster-stricken areas.
Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, said he believes AI services will eventually replace standard search engines such as Google, according to a report Wednesday.
Alphabet and Apple shares sank Wednesday after Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, said he believes that AI search engines will eventually replace standard search engines such as Google, according to Bloomberg.
Cue said he expects to add artificial intelligence services from OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic as search options in Apple's Safari browser in the future, according to the report.
The Apple executive was testifying in a federal court in Washington as part of the Justice Department's lawsuit against Alphabet. Last year, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Google had illegally dominated advertising technology markets, and now the judge is looking to determine what penalties or actions should be taken against the search company.
One major focus on the case is Google's practice of paying platform providers such as Apple to become the default search engine on their platform.
The lawsuit and any potential remedies threaten Google's lucrative advertising business, and Alphabet shares sank more than 7% on Wednesday.
Streamlining is often a go-to for cost savings, but a 100% cut may risk disrupting critical functions. A more measured approach with smart reforms might be a better path forward to maintain essential services
Logic relies on the assumption that the other party is sufficiently astute, clear-minded, and ethically sound to appreciate nuance and truth. Once it becomes clear that this is not the case, rational discussion loses its value.
When pure reason fails, tactics rooted in persuasion and strategic manipulation come into play to secure agreement where genuine understanding is lacking. And if that proves ineffective, the options are either to withdraw or resort to force.
The key to winning the game of life: increasing your awareness and taking action
Knowing the importance of something is only the first step - what truly matters is knowing it in the moment, when it counts.
So let go of the "I already know that" mentality and create reminders of your truths and values. Because in the end, it's not about what you know, it's about what you do.
Choose to be aware and take action towards your goals.
Many investors choose to wait until Bitcoin skyrockets before making a purchase. It's advisable to get started early so that one isn't later competing with others for remaining opportunities.
Royalty revenue in the quarter rose 18% from a year earlier to $607 million.
Net income fell 6% to $210 million, or 20 cents a share, from $224 million, or 21 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue jumped 34% from $928 million a year earlier.
AppLovin shares pop on earnings beat as it announces sale of mobile gaming business
AppLovin shares soared in extended trading after the company beat first-quarter expectations and announced the sale of its mobile gaming business.
AppLovin shares soared as high as 15% in extended trading after the company reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations and announced the sale of its mobile gaming business.
Here's how the company did compared to LSEG consensus estimates:
Earnings: $1.67 per share vs $1.45 per share expected
Revenue: $1.48 billion vs $1.38 billion expected
AppLovin also agreed on Wednesday to sell its mobile gaming business to Tripledot Studios in a deal worth $400 million in cash considerations.
The ad-tech firm said in February that it had signed a term sheet to sell its apps business for "total estimated consideration" of $900 million, which included $500 million in cash.
AppLovin's business has been split between advertising and apps, which is primarily made up of game studios that the company has acquired over the years. With the historic growth in its advertising unit, due to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, the apps business had become much less important.
Sales of the company's apps-related business for the quarter came in at $325 million, which was a 14% decline from the prior year.
The company logged $1.16 billion in first-quarter advertising sales, up from $678 million a year ago.
AppLovin's stock surged over 700% in 2024 and was the top performer in the sector, thanks to the AI boom and growth in online advertising.
But the company's shares dropped 12% in February after short sellers published reports casting doubt on its AI-powered AXON advertising software.
Separately, AppLovin published a blog post on Wednesday, describing a proposed deal with ByteDance's TikTok. The company said it would not buy the TikTok U.S. operations but rather merge with the social media company, allowing it to cover "all assets outside China."
"We see this as a true partnership, leveraging our strengths to address security, data, and content challenges while unlocking massive potential," the company said in the blog post.
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi previously told CNBC's "The Exchange" in April that its proposal involving TikTok represented a "much stronger bid than others."
Last month, President Donald Trump extended the deadline a second time for ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American buyer or be effectively banned in the country.
"If you pair our algorithm with the TikTok audience, the expansion on that platform for dollars spent will be through the roof," Foroughi said at the time.
Foroughi on Wednesday characterized AppLovin's TikTok proposal as "a long shot." But he said the company goes "after long shots," which "shouldn't be surprising to our shareholders at this point."
He said that AppLovin's TikTok plans would involve overseeing the app's U.S. business and its operations in other parts of the world, but not China.
"We think the biggest priority is to solve national security concerns with regards to biases in the algo and data in the U.S., but that's important outside of China everywhere," Foroughi said. "And to do that, you really, truly do have to have operational control."
The device operates in a simple yet effective cycle. With the cup’s dome lid open, the sponge absorbs airborne moisture. When closed and exposed to sunlight, the material heats up and releases the collected water into the container below.
Hao revealed that the sponge absorbed about two milliliters of water per gram and released nearly all of it within 10 hours during lab tests carried out at 90 percent humidity. The prototype consists of nine sponge cubes, each weighing 0.8 grams, yielded 15 milliliters of water per harvesting cycle.
In outdoor tests, it captured 2.5 milliliters per gram overnight and released most of it during the day. “At 30 percent humidity, our device absorbed water at about 0.6 milliliters per gram,” Junfeng Hou, PhD, a professor at the Zhejiang A&F University and co-lead researcher, . “These results highlight its potential use in off-grid, solar-driven water harvesting systems.”
Meanwhile, using natural wood as the base material helped lower costs while also offering strong structural support and improving water movement thanks to its porous structure. Because of this and its stable performance over 10 cycles with under 12 percent efficiency loss, the researchers see strong potential for large-scale use in remote or arid regions.
The team is now in discussions with industry partners to scale up production and integrate the sponge system into larger, solar-powered arrays. They’re also considering integrating IoT sensors – hardware components that measure variables like temperature, pressure and motion – to automate the process based on real-time environmental conditions.
“Solar panels combined with thermal energy storage could enable round-the-clock operation, particularly in areas with intermittent sunlight,” Hao concluded in a press release.
Investors are also focused on Nintendo's forecast for the fiscal year. The company expects net sales of 1.9 trillion yen, a 63% year-on-year rise but just short of LSEG estimates of 2 trillion yen. It expects net profit to jump 7.6% to 300 billion yen, below LSEG estimates of 388.8 billion yen.
However, Nintendo noted that all of its forecasts are based on U.S. tariff rates effective Apr. 10 — following a pause in U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs for many countries.
Nintendo in April delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the U.S. after the initial announcement of Trump's sweeping tariffs on countries around the world. Nintendo's consoles are manufactured in Vietnam, which faces duties of 46% once the pause lifts.
Nintendo's President Shuntaro Furukawa said on Thursday that if additional tariffs are imposed and prices of its goods need to be adjusted, demand in the U.S. may decrease, Reuters reported. Duties could hit profit to the tune of tens of billions of yen, Furukawa added, according to the report.
Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games consultancy Kantan Games, said Nintendo's forecasts are typically conservative.
"Nintendo loves lowballing their forecasts, and the current climate around tariffs gives them all the reason to be more cautious than ever," Toto told CNBC.
He added that tariffs are creating an "unclear future" for Nintendo, making it "impossible" for any hardware maker to make sales predictions.
"What happens if the tariffs on imports from China stay this high for longer or if they are raised for Vietnam?" Toto said.
"If Nintendo needed to raise prices by $100 or more, all bets would be off and the company would be under enormous pressure in the all important U.S. market."
If Apple succeeds, it will allow the company to roll back changes that have already started to shift the economics of app development. Developers including Amazon and Spotify have been able to update their apps to avoid Apple's commissions and direct customers to their own website for payment.
Prior to the ruling, Amazon's Kindle app told users they could not purchase a book in the iPhone app. After a recent update, the app now shows an orange "Get Book" button that links to Amazon's website.
Epic also plans to introduce new software to allow app and game developers to easily link to their websites to take payments.
Wednesday's filing from Apple doesn't address Rogers' accusations that the company misled the judge, but it does argue that the ruling was punitive. Apple's lawyers also claimed that civil contempt sanctions can only coerce compliance with an existing order, not punish non-compliance.
Apple said earlier this week in a court filing it would appeal the contempt ruling.
"We've complied with the court's order and we're going to appeal," Cook told investors on the company's quarterly earnings call last week.
Bitcoin investment firms raise large sums of money, often through a mix of equity and debt, to buy and hold bitcoin. Their stock becomes another way for investors to bet on the price of bitcoin.
Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), popularized the model, converting its cash reserves into bitcoin beginning in 2020. The move transformed the software company into a de facto bitcoin holding company, with the value of its stock soaring as bitcoin rallied. It's now one of the world's largest owners of bitcoin.
Balancing both is key—liquidity powers the engine, but community fuels the journey. Each plays its part in a thriving ecosystem without undervaluing the other
Coaching people on how to create content with the inleo front is great because they stand chance of getting the tokens.
#inleo #neoxian #cent #threadfortune
Zero Escape
I finished Virtue's Last Reward, and what a Cliffhanger!!!!!!!! You're seriously telling me to play the next game to continue the story?! Really?!!!!
...I wonder what will happen to Sigma and Phi in the next game: Zero Time Dilemma. I already confirmed they are characters in that game. #gaming #onmymind #mydiary
Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 5/8/25. The goal is to make this a technology "reddit".
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
What is the most interesting thing you managed to do/create with AI? I'm hearing that people are using it for coding games and apps but it sucked every time I tried to use it for coding
I am a basic user, doing it mostly for research.
There is a skill required to getting these things to work as one wants. To start, there is a difference between models, with some excelling in areas where others lack. Secondly, prompting is an art, to get the model to operate properly.
True, you mentioned the two main factors that influence the results we get from AI tools.
The model and the prompt.
I took some months to study prompting, although I'm not a master yet, but I can currently engineer it to produce almost human quality responses which requires minimal human editing to be perfect
I get that but I'm not a complete newb when it comes to HTML and I couldn't get it to make some basic stuff work
Btw nice seeing you again Task. Your consistency is on an insane level lol
Trump crypto advisor David Bailey launching $300 million bitcoin investment company
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc. and a Trump crypto advisor, has raised $300 million to launch a publicly traded bitcoin investment company.
David Bailey, CEO of media group BTC Inc., and a key crypto advisor to President Donald Trump, has raised $300 million to launch a publicly traded bitcoin investment company, CNBC has confirmed.
The deal, which has been in the works since January, consists of $200 million in equity funding and $100 million in convertible debt, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the fundraise hasn't been announced. The Information was first to cover the story.
Bailey's company is named Nakamoto, a tribute to the pseudonymous bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. It will focus on acquiring and holding bitcoin and is set to merge with an existing Nasdaq-listed company in a transaction that's expected to be announced early next week, the person said. The company's public listing is expected this summer.
Nakamoto plans to buy companies around the world, including in Brazil, Thailand and South Africa, and invest its bitcoin into them, the source said. The venture is backed by a roster of well-known investors, with an advisory board that includes prominent figures, the person said.
Paragraphs
The judge dismissed nearly all of the claims against the "Celebrity Defendants," which include sports stars and others. The court also cleared the "YouTuber Defendants," including influencers who allegedly marketed FTX through social media, of most claims.
The ruling comes after a protracted legal battle in which plaintiffs alleged that the celebrities and influencers were liable for promoting unregistered securities and engaging in deceptive practices.
Earlier this year Nintendo slashed its forecast for sales of the Switch to 11 million units for the year ended Mar. 31. Nintendo on Thursday said it sold 10.8 million units of the Switch in the year, just shy of its own forecast and down 31% year-on-year.
Market research firm Omdia expects Nintendo to sell 14.7 million Switch 2 units in 2025 alone, which would be about 10% ahead of the original Switch's debut year.
"Switch 2 will launch into a stronger position than its predecessor, with over 100 million active Switch users providing a strong foundation for adoption," George Jijiashvili, Omdia's senior principal analyst, told CNBC by email.
Investors are now focused on how the successor to the console, the Switch 2, will perform following its launch. The Switch 2 will start at $449.99 in the U.S. and has improved features compared with its predecessor.
As well as the 15 million unit sales forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2026, Nintendo said it expects to sell 45 million units of software during the same period.
Games are important for the success of any console and Nintendo said the Switch 2 will launch with two titles — "Mario Kart World" and "Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour." There will also be Switch 2 versions of existing games such as "Zelda: Breath of the Wild." Nintendo is leaning on its popular characters such as Mario and Zelda to boost the appeal of the Switch 2.
"This forces Apple to compete," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said shortly after last month's decision. "This is what we wanted all along."
Apple said in the filing that "non-party developers are already seizing upon the Order to reduce consumer choice (and damage Apple's business) by, among other things, impeding the use of" in-app purchases.
Rogers made a criminal referral in the case, saying that Apple misled the court and that a company vice president "outright lied" about when and why Apple decided to charge 27% for external payments. The real decision, the judge said, took place in meetings involving Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Jack Mallers, who rose to fame by launching the Strike payments app, has secured billions of dollars for his bitcoin-holding venture Twenty One, which is backed by SoftBank and Tether.
"What we really pride ourselves on is being blue-chip credibility with startup upside," Mallers told CNBC's Crypto World this week. "We feel like we're big enough to win entering the market with billions of dollars of capital upon launch, but we're small enough to grow and we're small enough to post bitcoin-denominated returns in what's becoming a really competitive capital markets appetite for bitcoin exposure."
The advertising tech company will also obtain a roughly 20% ownership stake in Tripledot Studios, which makes mobile games like Sudoko Friends, Puzzletime and Solitaire Classic. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025.
AppLovin said it expects second-quarter sales in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.22 billion, trailing analyst expectations of $1.38 billion.
The company reported first-quarter net income of $576 million, or $1.67 per share, up from $234 million, or 67 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2024.
AppLovin's total costs and expenses for the first quarter came in at $820.55 million, representing a 14% increase from the previous year during the same quarter.
But the lawsuit also threatens to ensnare Apple. Google pays the iPhone maker billions of dollars per year — as much as $20 billion per year back in 2022, according to testimony in the trial — to be the default search engine on iPhones. It's lucrative for Apple and a valuable way for Google to get more search volume and users. Apple shares fell 2% during trading Wednesday.
Cue's comments cast doubt on the long-term stability of the relationship. Cue said he believes Google should remain the default search option on Safari, saying he has lost sleep over the possibility of losing the revenue share from the two companies' agreement, according to the report.
The Apple executive said searches on Safari declined for the first time in April, which Cue attributed to the rise in people using AI, according to the report.
A solar-driven water cycle
In a bid to address the global challenge of access to safe drinking water, the team, including scientists from five Chinese research institutions, drew inspiration from the natural porosity of wood, enhancing it with smart materials to engineer a device that captures water more efficiently than most existing technologies, all powered solely by sunlight.
“Our team has invented a device comprising wood’s spongy scaffolding, lithium chloride, iron oxide nanoparticles, a carbon nanotube layer and other specialised features,” Hao emphasized, adding that they also used AI to optimize the material’s performance under varying environmental conditions.
Affordable, biodegradable, and scalable
Hao stressed that the device, despite being small, could be ideal for emergency situations, such as natural disasters that disrupt water supplies, provided the team can scale up and optimize the modular design.
“The current demonstration unit size is 15 cubic millimeters,” Hao said. “It would be very easy to prepare a larger unit, or we can use the units to form an array.”
According to Hou, the device continued to function after being stored at – 4 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 days, demonstrating freeze resistance, and maintained stable performance over repeated use with minimal efficiency loss.
The acquisition positions Coinbase as an international leader in crypto derivatives by open interest and options volume, Greg Tusar, vice president of institutional product, said in a blog post – which could allow it take on big players like Binance. Coinbase operates the largest marketplace for buying and selling cryptocurrencies within the U.S., but has a smaller share of the global crypto market, where activity largely takes place on Binance.
Deribit facilitated more than $1 trillion in trading volume last year and has about $30 billion of current open interest on the platform.
!summarize #ai #technology
Steph Curry, Tom Brady and other celebrities excluded from most FTX investor claims, judge rules
A Florida judge ruled that the investors failed to prove the celebrities knew about FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s misconduct when endorsing the platform.
A Florida federal judge has dismissed most of the claims against high-profile celebrities and YouTubers who promoted the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, including stars like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O'Leary, and Stephen Curry.
The ruling narrows the scope of a sprawling multidistrict litigation accusing them of using their fame to market a fraudulent platform.
The lawsuit stemmed from FTX's catastrophic collapse in November 2022, which wiped out billions of dollars in customer funds and triggered investigations worldwide. The plaintiffs accused the stars of being paid millions of dollars to endorse FTX without disclosing their financial incentives, a violation of federal and state advertising laws.
In an order filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that the plaintiffs, a group of FTX investors, failed to demonstrate that the celebrities had sufficient knowledge of FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's misconduct to be held liable for promoting the exchange.
Nintendo forecasts sales of 15 million Switch 2 consoles as it gears up for launch
Nintendo said it expects to sell 15 million units of its new Switch 2 console in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
Nintendo said Thursday that it expects to sell 15 million units of its new Switch 2 console in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
It is the first forecast for sales from the Japanese gaming giant since it announced the successor to its successful Switch device, which is due to go on sale in June.
Nintendo also reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Here's how Nintendo did in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Mar. 31 versus LSEG estimates:
Revenue: 208.7 billion Japanese yen ($1.45 billion), compared with 216.16 billion yen expected.
Net profit: 41.6 billion yen, versus 33.91 billion yen expected.
Revenue fell 24.7% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, while profit plunged nearly 50%. This was largely expected as Nintendo fans await the Switch 2 and hold off on buying the current console.
Apple says Epic Games contempt ruling could cost 'substantial sums'
Apple wants a court to pause a decision in its case against Epic Games, and allow it to charge commission on in-app transactions that link out for payment.
Apple is asking a court to pause a recent decision in its case against Epic Games and allow the iPhone maker to once again charge a commission on in-app transactions that link out for payment.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland found that Apple had violated her original court order from the Epic trial, originally decided in 2021, that forced Apple to make limited changes to its linking out policy under California law.
Judge Rogers' new ruling is more expansive, ordering Apple to immediately stop imposing its commissions on purchases made for iPhone apps through web links inside its apps, among other changes.
Apple is now looking to get a stay on that order, as well as another one from the case that prevents it from restricting app developers from choosing the language or placement of those links, until the entire decision can be appealed. Apple says that required changes in their current form will cost the company "substantial sums."
"This is the latest chapter in Epic's largely unsuccessful effort to use competition law to change how Apple runs the App Store," Apple said in the emergency motion for a stay. The motion cites a previous order in the case that found that new linking policies would cost Apple "hundreds of millions to billions" of dollars annually.
Arm shares drop on weak forecast
Arm beat on earnings and revenue but issued a disappointing forecast in its quarterly report on Wednesday.
Arm shares dropped more than 8% in extended trading on Wednesday after the chip-design company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
Here's how the company did in the fiscal fourth quarter compared with LSEG consensus:
Earnings per share: 55 cents, adjusted vs. 52 cents expected
Revenue: $1.24 billion vs. $1.23 billion
While Arm topped estimates for the quarter ended March 31, Wall Street is looking ahead to the company's forecast for the first quarter.
Arm said revenue will be between $1 billion and $1.1 billion. The middle of the range is below the $1.1 billion average analysts estimated, according to LSEG. Earnings per share will be between 30 cents and 38 cents, while analysts were expecting 42 cents.
SoftBank controls about 90% of Arm, and took the company public in 2023. It now has a market cap of over $130 billion as of Wednesday's close.
Arm designs the fundamental architecture upon which many chips are built, and sells licenses for its designs to companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia, charging royalty fees on each sale they make. The company claims 99% of premium smartphones are powered by Arm technology.
Smart sponge smaller than a paper clip pulls water from air with 94% efficiency
The device functioned reliably across humidity levels of 30 to 90 percent and temperatures between 41 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
Researchers from Australia and China have designed a smart spongy device capable of capturing water from thin air and releasing it in a cup using the sun’s energy, with impressive performance even in dry climates where most other systems fail.
The innovative water-from-air device uses a sponge-like material made from modified balsa wood – the lightest and softest commercial hardwood timber – enhanced with salts, nanoparticles, and a carbon nanotube layer.
Derek Hao, PhD, a materials scientists and environmental engineer at Australia’s RMIT University, and one of the study’s co-authors, revealed that the material absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, and using solar energy, releases the collected water directly into a cup.
The device achieved an impressive water collection efficiency of up to 94 percent in outdoor testing. It additionally remained effective across a broad range of environmental conditions, including humidity levels ranging from 30 to 90 percent, and temperatures between 41 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
This, according to the senior researcher, further highlights its potential for use in off-grid and disaster-stricken areas.
Alphabet shares sink 7% after Apple’s Cue says AI will replace search engines
Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, said he believes AI services will eventually replace standard search engines such as Google, according to a report Wednesday.
Alphabet and Apple shares sank Wednesday after Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, said he believes that AI search engines will eventually replace standard search engines such as Google, according to Bloomberg.
Cue said he expects to add artificial intelligence services from OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic as search options in Apple's Safari browser in the future, according to the report.
The Apple executive was testifying in a federal court in Washington as part of the Justice Department's lawsuit against Alphabet. Last year, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Google had illegally dominated advertising technology markets, and now the judge is looking to determine what penalties or actions should be taken against the search company.
One major focus on the case is Google's practice of paying platform providers such as Apple to become the default search engine on their platform.
The lawsuit and any potential remedies threaten Google's lucrative advertising business, and Alphabet shares sank more than 7% on Wednesday.
I think that's better #bbh
inflames !BBH !LOLZ
lolztoken.com
Because it had two banks.
Credit: reddit
@ben.haase, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of master-lamps
(2/10)
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Breaking: The IRS is planning to cut its workforce by one-quarter.
100% cut would be better
Streamlining is often a go-to for cost savings, but a 100% cut may risk disrupting critical functions. A more measured approach with smart reforms might be a better path forward to maintain essential services
We will see if the Trump administration is able to get the "External Revenue Service" generating enough money to cause a reduction in internal taxes.
The reduction in headcount is a promising start.
#askleo How can I see the LEO richlist?
#thanks for #freedom @ 🇫🇷 & 🇬🇧 & 🇺🇸 #8thmay
So, you are french!?
nah I’m 🇩🇪 the 8th was the day nazi fag*** finally surrendered
😅
ready for lunching
are you eating raw foods ?
just making salat
rawwwwwwwwwwwwww =) amazing!
Live without being driven by others, if your circle starts to poison your dreams, cut them off, don't give them space.
Time is infinitely more valuable than money.
It’s literally the stuff life is made of…
Are we playing Jeopardy???
What is water?
wetness
Logic relies on the assumption that the other party is sufficiently astute, clear-minded, and ethically sound to appreciate nuance and truth. Once it becomes clear that this is not the case, rational discussion loses its value.
When pure reason fails, tactics rooted in persuasion and strategic manipulation come into play to secure agreement where genuine understanding is lacking. And if that proves ineffective, the options are either to withdraw or resort to force.
The key to winning the game of life: increasing your awareness and taking action
Knowing the importance of something is only the first step - what truly matters is knowing it in the moment, when it counts.
So let go of the "I already know that" mentality and create reminders of your truths and values. Because in the end, it's not about what you know, it's about what you do.
Choose to be aware and take action towards your goals.
Many investors choose to wait until Bitcoin skyrockets before making a purchase. It's advisable to get started early so that one isn't later competing with others for remaining opportunities.
Hot day
you live in dubai?
It seems like you live in Dubai, and thankfully, here we have received the rain, so the weather is cool now.
Dive in Nature.
Good morning
Good Morning!!
Any VB code you use which newer than 2008, must be from a force labor camp #cent #programming #vb #code #bbh
Morning from Doha
This looks so futuristic.. Where is that exactly in Doha?
Good Morning!!
Good morning to you too.
This is a real image from #victoryday in #germany, allied #generals handing out $LEO
Awesome!
In yesterday's $INJ analysis, I marked the bounce target with the blue arrow and it wasn't THAT off... sold near resistance (red).
#crypto #trading
Here is the proverbial thread for leoai data and food to eat.
!summarize #enterprise #ai
Royalty revenue in the quarter rose 18% from a year earlier to $607 million.
Net income fell 6% to $210 million, or 20 cents a share, from $224 million, or 21 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue jumped 34% from $928 million a year earlier.
AppLovin shares pop on earnings beat as it announces sale of mobile gaming business
AppLovin shares soared in extended trading after the company beat first-quarter expectations and announced the sale of its mobile gaming business.
AppLovin shares soared as high as 15% in extended trading after the company reported earnings and revenue that beat expectations and announced the sale of its mobile gaming business.
Here's how the company did compared to LSEG consensus estimates:
Earnings: $1.67 per share vs $1.45 per share expected
Revenue: $1.48 billion vs $1.38 billion expected
AppLovin also agreed on Wednesday to sell its mobile gaming business to Tripledot Studios in a deal worth $400 million in cash considerations.
The ad-tech firm said in February that it had signed a term sheet to sell its apps business for "total estimated consideration" of $900 million, which included $500 million in cash.
AppLovin's business has been split between advertising and apps, which is primarily made up of game studios that the company has acquired over the years. With the historic growth in its advertising unit, due to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, the apps business had become much less important.
Sales of the company's apps-related business for the quarter came in at $325 million, which was a 14% decline from the prior year.
The company logged $1.16 billion in first-quarter advertising sales, up from $678 million a year ago.
!summarize #china #switzerland #trade #tariffs
AppLovin's stock surged over 700% in 2024 and was the top performer in the sector, thanks to the AI boom and growth in online advertising.
But the company's shares dropped 12% in February after short sellers published reports casting doubt on its AI-powered AXON advertising software.
Separately, AppLovin published a blog post on Wednesday, describing a proposed deal with ByteDance's TikTok. The company said it would not buy the TikTok U.S. operations but rather merge with the social media company, allowing it to cover "all assets outside China."
"We see this as a true partnership, leveraging our strengths to address security, data, and content challenges while unlocking massive potential," the company said in the blog post.
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi previously told CNBC's "The Exchange" in April that its proposal involving TikTok represented a "much stronger bid than others."
Last month, President Donald Trump extended the deadline a second time for ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American buyer or be effectively banned in the country.
"If you pair our algorithm with the TikTok audience, the expansion on that platform for dollars spent will be through the roof," Foroughi said at the time.
!summarize #uk #trade
Foroughi on Wednesday characterized AppLovin's TikTok proposal as "a long shot." But he said the company goes "after long shots," which "shouldn't be surprising to our shareholders at this point."
He said that AppLovin's TikTok plans would involve overseeing the app's U.S. business and its operations in other parts of the world, but not China.
"We think the biggest priority is to solve national security concerns with regards to biases in the algo and data in the U.S., but that's important outside of China everywhere," Foroughi said. "And to do that, you really, truly do have to have operational control."
!summarize #zuckerberg #aifriends #meta #ai
!summarize #kashpatel #congress #fbi
The device operates in a simple yet effective cycle. With the cup’s dome lid open, the sponge absorbs airborne moisture. When closed and exposed to sunlight, the material heats up and releases the collected water into the container below.
Hao revealed that the sponge absorbed about two milliliters of water per gram and released nearly all of it within 10 hours during lab tests carried out at 90 percent humidity. The prototype consists of nine sponge cubes, each weighing 0.8 grams, yielded 15 milliliters of water per harvesting cycle.
!summarize #gop #sentaro #rickscott #jeromepowell #thefed
!summarize #canada #51ststate #alberta #trump
In outdoor tests, it captured 2.5 milliliters per gram overnight and released most of it during the day. “At 30 percent humidity, our device absorbed water at about 0.6 milliliters per gram,” Junfeng Hou, PhD, a professor at the Zhejiang A&F University and co-lead researcher, . “These results highlight its potential use in off-grid, solar-driven water harvesting systems.”
Meanwhile, using natural wood as the base material helped lower costs while also offering strong structural support and improving water movement thanks to its porous structure. Because of this and its stable performance over 10 cycles with under 12 percent efficiency loss, the researchers see strong potential for large-scale use in remote or arid regions.
!summarize #southcentermall #shooting #seattle #washington #crime
!summarize #trade #uk #tariffs #whitehouse
The team is now in discussions with industry partners to scale up production and integrate the sponge system into larger, solar-powered arrays. They’re also considering integrating IoT sensors – hardware components that measure variables like temperature, pressure and motion – to automate the process based on real-time environmental conditions.
“Solar panels combined with thermal energy storage could enable round-the-clock operation, particularly in areas with intermittent sunlight,” Hao concluded in a press release.
!summarize #xijinping #china #trade #economy #factories
!summarize #china #mortgage #debt #banks #economy
Yes, $AVA. Explain this concept clearly.
"Users: 'Seriously, provide product-market fit and a solid reason for your token to exist.'
Protocols: 'Haha, check it out—our logo, as if it were crafted entirely from flaming hot Cheetos.'"
Australia seems to keep undermining its own potential.
What is it about criminal behavior that is so drawn to suffering?
#askleo
What was the history of the Russian Revolution?
Are you familiar with the Russian Revolution?
How can I overcome the error?
Are you still an error?
A new thread for the first time today. Filling the Leo belly.
!summarize #china #markets #economy
Investors are also focused on Nintendo's forecast for the fiscal year. The company expects net sales of 1.9 trillion yen, a 63% year-on-year rise but just short of LSEG estimates of 2 trillion yen. It expects net profit to jump 7.6% to 300 billion yen, below LSEG estimates of 388.8 billion yen.
However, Nintendo noted that all of its forecasts are based on U.S. tariff rates effective Apr. 10 — following a pause in U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs for many countries.
Nintendo in April delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the U.S. after the initial announcement of Trump's sweeping tariffs on countries around the world. Nintendo's consoles are manufactured in Vietnam, which faces duties of 46% once the pause lifts.
!summarize #nyknicks #boston #celtics #nba
Nintendo's President Shuntaro Furukawa said on Thursday that if additional tariffs are imposed and prices of its goods need to be adjusted, demand in the U.S. may decrease, Reuters reported. Duties could hit profit to the tune of tens of billions of yen, Furukawa added, according to the report.
Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games consultancy Kantan Games, said Nintendo's forecasts are typically conservative.
"Nintendo loves lowballing their forecasts, and the current climate around tariffs gives them all the reason to be more cautious than ever," Toto told CNBC.
!summarize #microstrategy #capital #bitcoin #debt #treasury #shares
!summarize #waymo #robotaxi #autonomy
!summarize #elonmusk #robotaxi #tesla
He added that tariffs are creating an "unclear future" for Nintendo, making it "impossible" for any hardware maker to make sales predictions.
"What happens if the tariffs on imports from China stay this high for longer or if they are raised for Vietnam?" Toto said.
"If Nintendo needed to raise prices by $100 or more, all bets would be off and the company would be under enormous pressure in the all important U.S. market."
If Apple succeeds, it will allow the company to roll back changes that have already started to shift the economics of app development. Developers including Amazon and Spotify have been able to update their apps to avoid Apple's commissions and direct customers to their own website for payment.
Prior to the ruling, Amazon's Kindle app told users they could not purchase a book in the iPhone app. After a recent update, the app now shows an orange "Get Book" button that links to Amazon's website.
Epic also plans to introduce new software to allow app and game developers to easily link to their websites to take payments.
!summarize #newtgingrinch #china #enemy #economy #workforce
!summarize #trump #trade #uk #economy
Wednesday's filing from Apple doesn't address Rogers' accusations that the company misled the judge, but it does argue that the ruling was punitive. Apple's lawyers also claimed that civil contempt sanctions can only coerce compliance with an existing order, not punish non-compliance.
Apple said earlier this week in a court filing it would appeal the contempt ruling.
"We've complied with the court's order and we're going to appeal," Cook told investors on the company's quarterly earnings call last week.
!summarize #stock #interestrates #crash #market
!summarize #fsd #cnbc #tesla #bias #media
!summarize #titanic #pinkmist #death
Bitcoin investment firms raise large sums of money, often through a mix of equity and debt, to buy and hold bitcoin. Their stock becomes another way for investors to bet on the price of bitcoin.
Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), popularized the model, converting its cash reserves into bitcoin beginning in 2020. The move transformed the software company into a de facto bitcoin holding company, with the value of its stock soaring as bitcoin rallied. It's now one of the world's largest owners of bitcoin.
!summarize #universe #hologram #jennalevin
https://inleo.io/threads/view/taskmaster4450le/re-leothreads-78mmrlwh
#feedback
Rafiki issuing errors. Not providing any answers.
Dope! One game... the possibilities of #hive are huge!
https://inleo.io/threads/view/forkyishere/re-leothreads-2r42aad6l
Prioritizing liquidity or fostering a community?
Community is #1 priority
Balancing both is key—liquidity powers the engine, but community fuels the journey. Each plays its part in a thriving ecosystem without undervaluing the other
#vitacola in glass, in this form - unusual
Morning
Good Morning!!
Is anyone writing about airdrops regularly on Hive/Leo?
I want to get back to the content business but I wanna check out the new creators in the space first. Drop some recommendations in the comments.
Who should I follow?
Hmm @ahmadmanga did some aidrops hunting and maybe @brando28?
Awesome. I'll check them out. Thanks for that
Oh, Evie needs a team to do this 😂 😂
Staking +1.5 LEO and I got my first 10 LEO in my wallet... too small for now.
I was lucky to try delicious and fresh Mangoes today!
#photography #cent
Nice photo....
I love this flowers
The platform represents the unfiltered expression of humanity.
three days worth of taxes collected with my keep in #splinterlands
#gmfrens
😍
They are adorable.
agreed
They are cuties, please don't make them biryani
Indeed!
Isn't it nostalgic thinking about those classic ringtones?
Wednesday morning
Bitcoin just surged past the $97,000 mark!!!
Coaching people on how to create content with the inleo front is great because they stand chance of getting the tokens.
#inleo #neoxian #cent #threadfortune
Best friends 🧡
Interesting...
What genre?
🇩🇪 FritzBox 5.2025 🤓
Der war flach.... aber 😂
!LOL !SLOTH !MEME
lolztoken.com
We are called the Algebros.
Credit: theabsolute
@moretea, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of chaosmagic23
(1/10)
NEW: Join LOLZ's Daily Earn and Burn Contest and win $LOLZ
Credit: orionvk
Earn Crypto for your Memes @ HiveMe.me!
lolztoken.com
Tell a women you love her.
Credit: reddit
@moretea, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of ben.haase
(8/10)
Good morning, Lions!
#gmfrens #gmlions #bbh
Good Morning!!
Morning!
!BBH !ALIVE
#moviesonleo #television #review Halloween is indirectly celebrated in the only holiday-themed episode in the history of Star Trek. (link in reply)
https://inleo.io/hive-166847/@drax/television-review-catspaw-star-trek-s2x01-1967-2zp
Gm Gm .!!!
#saddoggo
Good morning! Whats todays plan?
Good Morning!!
Coffee. Thread. Coffee. Job. Coffee. Thread. Invest. Job. Coffee. Food. Sleep.
Or some variation with more food or more coffee!
GM .!! Just cleaning up my room and making some music :)
Is your dog sick? because I can see he is sad
He had an upset stomach .!!! Now he is feeling much better .
Life recently. . .
You are enjoying some nice foods there, but avoid deep-fried foods daily.
Life is good it seems!